safer cars in India

Car Safety workshop – Jaipur – 14 July 2017

by admin | Jul 14, 2017 | Safer Cars GRSP

Car Safety workshop – Jaipur – 14 July 2017

Consumer Voice in collaboration with its state partner Hand for Help, Jaipur organized a workshop on Car Safety at Hotel Savi on July 14, 2017.

The main objective of the workshop was to generate awareness among the consumers on safety features of cars and about ‘Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme’, which ensures that vehicles should be fitted with safety equipments.

Mr. Arjun Kant Jha, Office Bearer, Hand for Help in his welcome speech mentioned that earlier cars were supposed to be the safest vehicle because only selected categories of vehicles were available. Now the situation has changed because of economic empowerment resulting into increased number of cars. Hence, today victimization of car wheelers is second after two wheelers.

Sh. Hemant Upadhyay, Senior Advisor from Consumer VOICE in his introductory opening told in brief about Consumer VOICE initiatives in constitution of various consumer friendly laws in India. Further on the subject he mentioned that Indian government is taking steps towards harmonization of national regulations of safety standards for passenger cars with UN-ECE regulations. ‘Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme’ which will be voluntary from October, 2017 and mandatory by October, 2020.

30% of the fatalities can be prevented by only adopting safety gadgets in our cars. While purchasing the car, people usually first bargain on prices and/or demand for comfortable devices along with musical instruments and also car colours are on priority. There is no demand or query from car consumers for safety gadgets. Through the presentation, he showed the importance of car safety instruments in saving lives. A video was shown to understand the need of safety gadgets in cars.

Smt. Prerana Singh, Managing Trustee, People’s Trust and Centre Coordinator, Centre for Road Safety said people more often discuss on prices of cars, its look/design and power and there is dearth of discussion on safety aspects available in car. On preventing measures in car she highlighted the people’s attitude, behavior, road conditions along with presence or absence of safety gadgets responsible for averting accidents.

Shri Girish, President, All India Motor Driving School Association told that it is one of the much needed activity to be enforced strictly because majority of the families are having cars without any safety guard. As we Indians are in the habit of multitasking, hence during travel we enjoy listening to music, talking over phone and even eating. Therefore, under such scenario car safety gadgets are the only instrument for minimizing accidents.

Audience appreciated the documentary of road accident victims shown during the meeting. There was a question answer session where experts cleared the queries of participants.

The workshop was participated by 51 NGOs and Motor Driving Schools, representatives from civil societies of Jaipur city.

Car Safety Workshop – Ahemdabad – 13 July 2017

by admin | Jul 13, 2017 | Safer Cars GRSP

Car Safety Workshop – Ahemdabad – 13 July 2017

Consumer VOICE, in collaboration with its state partner Rajkot Saher Jilla Grahak Suraksha Mandal , Rajkot organized a workshop on Car Safety on July 13, 2017 at Government Circuit House Shahibaugh, Ahemdabad.

The main objective of the programme is to spread a message that safer cars are needed on Indian roads to save the precious lives.

The welcome speech at the seminar was delivered by Smt. Ramaben Mavani, President, Rajkot Saher Jilla Grahak Suraksha Mandal. She welcomed all the leading dignitaries and audience present at the event and added Safety remains a top concern for new-car shoppers, and fortunately, today’s modern cars offer more occupant protection and accident avoidance technologies than the typical model being traded in.

Ramjibhai Mavani, Founder President Rajkot Saher Jilla Grahak Suraksha Mandal, gave the back ground of the seminar. He further went on to say that new technologies offer potential benefits, such as blind-spot detection and forward-collision warning systems.

Shri Hemant Upadhyay,Senoir Advisor at Consumer VOICE, showed a Film on Car Safety also gave presentation as well at the seminar. He concluded his speech by giving guidelines and knowledge to the consumers on the theme. Shri J.N. Barevadia, R.T.O, Ahmedabad said that Comprehension of the ESC campaign was strong, with three in four correctly identifying a key message. Shri Radheshyam Raval, Car Insurance Surveyor, The Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Shri D.H. Vadher, Development Officer (Motor Technical), Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Ahmedabad share their views on the subject matter.

Shri Sreeraj Rajan, Dealer – in House Trainer Sales & Quality Manager, Emerald Luxury Cars, said Buckle up and use of seat belts saved the lives of 13,000 people in 2008. Shri. Kanjibhai Faldu, from Kishan Sewa Sangh, Rajkot delivered his relevant speech at the seminar on the “Car Safety”

Shri Chirag Dhorada, from Roger Road Accident Prevention Organization said that “Be safe” but “drive safely.”

The programme followed by question and answer session and the consumers present at the seminar asked their respective questions to the dignitaries Representatives from Consumer Organisations, civil societies media attended the event in mass.

Related News

Aajkal Daily Gujarati Newspaper
http://www.readwhere.com/read/1279153/Aajkaal/Rajkot#page/8/1

Consumer VOICE organising a Car Safety workshop

by admin | Jun 21, 2017 | Safer Cars GRSP

Consumer VOICE organising a Car Safety workshop

Consumer VOICE,in collaboration with its state partner Citizen Awareness Grouporganized a workshop on Car Safety at Press Club in Chandigarh on June, 21, 2017.

The main objective of the programme is to spread a message that safer cars are needed on Indian roads to save the precious lives. Car safety issues were deliberated during the workshop to make consumers aware of different car safety aspects including basic standards and requirements.

Commenting on the subject, Shri Hemant Upadhyay, advisor IT, VOICE said, “India is World’s sixth largest Car Market and 2.03 million passenger cars are sold in India as per last year’s data. India has been witnessing a spurt in road accidents resulting in the largest number of road deaths and injuries. One of the major reasons behind high causalities in road accidents in the lack of safety features in Indian cars, specially the basic models which sell the most”.

Emphasizing on the need of safety features in the car the representative from Traffic Police, Chandigarh Shri Rajinder Singh, Head Constable, gave various tips on road safety. Besides local car dealers includedGunam Singh General Manager Maruti, Chandigarh Sandeep Deewan and Munish Bansal talked about what should customers looks in car which can save their precious lives in case of any untoward incident.

Shri SurinderVerma,Chairman , Citizen Awareness Group, said, “While buying a car consumers should give preference to safety features not, just its looks, price and other luxuries. Moreover, no real urgency is shown by car manufacturers to incorporate safety features.The event also highlighted the proposed government regulations to make some of these features mandatory for new cars from 1st October 2017 and for all cars by 1st October 2018”.The workshop marked the presence of people from civil societies, students, lawyers, media etc.

For media coverage, click here:

by admin | Jul 1, 2016 | safer cars in india

Safer Cars in India

“Indian Consumers also Deserve Safer Cars”

The Car Safety workshops were organized by Consumer VOICE in collaboration with state partners supported by Consumers International in 15 states across the country .These workshops were organized as part of a global campaign by Consumers International to meet the demand for safer cars for consumers.

The consumer demand for safer cars will push for better safety regulation and standards in India at par with global safety standards.

Rationale of the Campaign:

India is World’s sixth largest Car Market and about 2.03 million passenger cars were sold in India as per data of 2015. India has been witnessing very high rate of road accidents resulting in the largest number of road deaths and injuries in the world. About 1,374 crashes and 400 deaths take place every day on Indian roads. Safer vehicles can save precious lives and they are one of the pillars of the action plan towards reducing fatalities by fifty percent by 2020.

All car buyers ask mileage, no one asks safety rating: Car Safety is ignored in the purchase cycle by both buyers and sellers. Consumers are unaware where such information is even available.

Huge gap in consumer awareness about their own safety: Total lack of consumer awareness about what their own safety. Ground interactions and purchase behavior shows people don’t even realize when / how their lives are at risk.

When the World is gearing up for fully automated self drive cars, most of the cars sold in India lack basic safety features like air bags, antilock braking systems (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC) etc. Due to absence of strict safety regulations and testing procedures like Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP), car manufactures design their cars in India without essential car safety features in name of affordability. Recently when some of the popular cars in India were tested on NCAP standards, 4 out of 5 failed miserably.

About the Workshops: The Car Safety Workshops were organized in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh , Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Orrisa, Maharastra, Assam,West Bengal, Jammu, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh (UT)

In these Workshops, Experts from the fields of Road Safety, Automobile sector explained that while buying a car consumers should give preference to safety features and instead of looks, price and other luxuries. Car safety issues were discussed during the workshops. It was observed from car safety workshops that main reason of low awareness about safety aspects is lack of awareness among consumers and reluctance of auto sellers to engage with consumers on Safety features in a car. The workshops witnessed participation of Enthusiastic audience including Students, Consumers .Consumer Organisations ,Civil society organizations, Automobile experts and government officials from departments like traffic police,road safety and transportation etc.